Regina Spektor to Provide Tunes for Broadway-Bound Beauty

Regina Spektor, the reigning princess of the alt-folk music scene, has been tapped to compose the music for the new musical Beauty. The singer-songwriter will join lyricist Michael Korie and bookwriter/director Tina Landau (currently directing Superior Donuts on Broadway) for the production, which eyes a run on Broadway during the 2011-2012 season. Details for an out-of-town tryout of Beauty will be announced at a later date.

Described as an expansion on Landau's self-written one-act play produced in 2002 by La Jolla Playhouse, Beauty uses the 1812 Grimm fairy tale Sleeping Beauty as a jumping off point for a contemporary story of beauty lost and found.

Since her debut on the NYC cafe circuit in 2001, the Russian-born, Bronx-raised Spektor has taken the indie music scene by storm, developing a devout cult following in the process. A classically trained pianist, the artist is known for a combining everything from quirky dolphin noises to jazz piano riffs in her signature brand of eclectic, lyrical pop. Spektor recently released her latest album far, which debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and garnered rave reviews from critics. Far is the follow up to Spektor’s breakthrough album Begin To Hope which spent five consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard New Artists chart before moving to #20 on the Billboard Top 100 and selling a million copies worldwide. Her singles have appeared frequently on TV series such as CSI: NY, Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Veronica Mars, Brothers & Sisters and Weeds. 

Korie was nominated for the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards as lyricist for Grey Gardens. He also provided lyrics for Happiness, last season's original musical produced off-Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater. Korie wrote the libretto to composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath, which premiered at Minnesota Opera and will receive its New York concert premiere at Carnegie Hall in 2010.

Landau is currently directing the Broadway production of Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts. She is a writer and director whose original pieces include the plays Space (NYSF/Public, Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf), Theatrical Essays (Steppenwolf), 1969 (Humana Festival), Beauty (La Jolla Playhouse) and Stonewall (En Garde Arts), as well as the musicals Floyd Collins with composer Adam Guettel and Dream True with composer Ricky Ian Gordon. Her directing credits include Tarell McCraney’s Wig Out! (Vineyard Theater) and In the Red and Brown Water (Public, McCarter, Alliance), Chuck Mee’s Iphigenia 2.0 (Signature Theater in NYC), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (McCarter, Papermill) and Mary Rose (Vineyard). Landau is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theater Company.

Elephant Eye Theatrical will produce Beauty as well as the upcoming Broadway adaptation of The Addams Family.